192 



LETTUCE. 



white, close, firm heads, when in perfection ; the varieties 

 reach maturity from June till September. Meanwhile, they 

 are occasionally used in young, open growth. In a ver> 

 young state, the cabbage-lettuces have a milder, more agree- 

 able taste than the Cos; but when both classes are full 

 grown, the flavour of the Cos is preferred for salads, while 

 the cabbage kinds are more used for soups. 



Propagation. — From seed, of w^hich, for a seed-bed four feet 

 wide by ten feet in length, a quarter of an ounce is sufficient, 

 and will produce upw ards of four hundred plants. 



Soil and situation. — " All the sorts grow freely on any 

 rich, mellow soil, w^here the sub-soil is dry. For the most 

 part, raise this vegetable as a principal crop, on beds set 

 apart for it, and keep the varieties separate ; but to multi- 

 ply the supplies throughout summer, portions may be sow^n, 

 thinly intermixed w^ith principal crops of leeks, onions, car- 

 rots, and spinnage, which v/ill come off before the lettuces 

 are full grow^n ; also with any young perennials, Vvhich 

 stand at wide intervals." 



Times of sowing. — To obtain a constant supply of good 

 lettuce, it is serviceable to sow every month, from February 

 (or the opening of spring) to July, for the mmn summer 

 Dud autumn crops. For late autumn crops, you may sow 

 .a August, and if you have hot-beds, frames, Sic. you may 

 sow in Seotember, and so on, throuoh the fall and Vvinter. 

 Early spring lettuce may be sowed so late in the fall as not 

 to come up till spring. 



Process of sowing. — Abercrombie says, The ground 

 :^hould have been broken in the previous digging. Sov/ 

 oroad-cast, moderately thin; rake in lightly, and very even." 

 Others direct to sow^ in drills, from a foot to sixteen inches 

 apart. Armstrong observes, that " the straight-leafed sort 

 is best cultivated in broad-cast, and does not require trans- 

 planting ; but that the curled and head-lettuce cannot suc- 

 ceed without it." 



Management of the summer crop. — " In the successive 

 crops, raised from the opening of spring till the close of 

 summer, when the plants reach about two, three, or four 

 inches' grow^th, they si ould be thinned ; of those removed^ 

 let a requisite number be planted out, from a foot to fifteen 

 inches asunder, to remain for cabbaging. Such as continues 

 in the seed-beds may be either gathered thinningly, in pro- 

 gressive stages, till the final reserve advance in close-head- 

 ing ; or, as they increase in size, be planted out at the 

 squaie distance mentioned above, especially those designed 



